University life can be tough for students with a disability. It’s not just stairs that can be a challenge: anything from transporting heavy books to taking notes in lectures can be impossible for many attending university. Help is available, in the form of a funding stream called the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA), but due to funding cuts announced earlier in December, this will soon change.

The DSA is money which a disabled student can access after an application and assessment. In many cases, the money isn’t given directly to the student, but instead funds adaptations made by the university to help them. This can include anything from employing note takers for deaf students and screen reading technology for blind or visually impaired students. It can also pay for a helper to aid a wheelchair user like me to get around campus.

Smaller universities face not being able to fund the support that disabled students need

Essentially, almost any support that will allow a disabled student equal access to higher education is covered.

But from August, the government will be making £30m of cuts to DSA. This means that universities and colleges will need to take over the funding for much of what the DSA currently covers.

Jo Johnson, the minister for universities and science, says the cost of DSA has risen, being claimed by 64,500 students at a cost of £145.8m in 2012-13, compared to a spending of £101.3m on 47,400 students in 2009-10. He hopes that universities will be able to take on more of this cost themselves.

But many disabled students are concerned that universities may be unable or unwilling to provide the funding to fill the gap left by the cuts to DSA. The NUS is particularly worried that this could be an issue for smaller institutions, which may lack the resources to fund adequate support.

I'm a student with a disability – that doesn't make me 'special'

Read more

Zohra Khan, a disabled university student who studies English at the University of York, says DSA has enabled her to have technological help for her studies, like a dictaphone and software to aid transcription. But, to her, most important was the funding for a note taker – essential for students like Zohra with hearing impairments who find it impossible to listen to a lecturer while also making notes.

When she started university she didn’t have the note taker and says she “soon fell behind with work… and was potentially thinking about dropping out”.

“After receiving the help of a notetaker I became much more confident attending lectures and seminars, and was able to feel as if I was not missing out,” she says. But note-takers will no longer be funded under the new, restricted DSA, and as a result students with hearing impairments look set to be particularly affected.

Human support is particularly important to many disabled people. It’s something that largely won’t be funded by DSA next year and is expensive. “I have DSA for dyspraxia,” says Katherine Mellor, who studies social policy at the University of York. “A lot of people think DSA is just about laptops, but for me it pays for a specialist tutor to help compensate for my issues with organisation, working memory and time management.”

Top tips for students starting university with a disability

Read more

Mellor also uses specialist software to help write up notes, something that can be difficult due to chronic pain. She says these accommodations are crucial to allow her to keep up with the pace of her course and fellow students.

If universities can’t cover the gap left by the shrinking DSA, the opportunity to study at university could close for many disabled people. Khanand Mellor are just two students who rely on DSA in their university life: for them and the next intake of disabled freshers who will face the consequences of these cuts, the future of their education is uncertain.

Keep up with the latest on Guardian Students: follow us on Twitter at @GdnStudents – and become a member to receive exclusive benefits and our weekly newsletter.